Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!

Friday, August 31, 2012

It makes me all the more uncomfortable when that unilateral
disregard for existing law is being used in a coercive manner - using
access to federal funding to coerce states to adopt reform strategies
that the current administration happens to prefer. The precedent at the
federal level that legislation perceived as inconvenient can and should
simply be ignored seems to encourage state departments of education to
ignore statutory and constitutional provisions within their states that
might be perceived similarly as inconvenient. ---schoolfinance101

Under the No Child Left Behind waiver the state received from the feds,
the lowest performing schools must undergo major overhauls or be closed
and turned into new schools.

Leonie pointed to another brilliant post by Bruce Baker of Rutgers blogging at School Finance101. NCLB Waivers worse than NCLB? Bruce writes:

Implicit
in these classifications - and the proposed response interventions - is
the assumption that priority schools are simply poorly run schools -
schools with crummy leaders and lots of bad, lazy, pathetic and uncaring
teachers... who have thus caused their school to achieve priority
status.

Really, having such amazing forces like Bruce Baker doing this work on our side is heartening. Here's the first part of his post in full -- click the link below it to read the rest.

I
hope over the next several months to compile a series of posts where I
look at what states have done to achieve their executive granted waivers
from federal legislation. Yeah... let's be clear here, that all of this
starts with an executive decision to ignore outright, undermine
intentionally and explicitly, federal legislation. Yeah... that
legislation may have some significant issues. It might just suck
entirely. Nonetheless, this precedent is a scary one both in concept and
in practice. Even when I don't like the legislation in question, I'm
really uncomfortable having someone unilaterally over-ride or undermine
it.

It makes me all the more uncomfortable when that unilateral
disregard for existing law is being used in a coercive manner - using
access to federal funding to coerce states to adopt reform strategies
that the current administration happens to prefer. The precedent at the
federal level that legislation perceived as inconvenient can and should
simply be ignored seems to encourage state departments of education to
ignore statutory and constitutional provisions within their states that
might be perceived similarly as inconvenient.

Setting
all of those really important civics issues aside - WHICH WE CERTAINLY
SHOULD NOT BE DOING - the policies being adopted under this illegal
(technical term - since it's in direct contradiction to a statute, with
full recognition that this statute exists) coercive framework are toxic,
racially disparate and yet another example of misplaced blame.States
receiving waivers have generally followed through by using their
assessment data in contorted and entirely inappropriate ways to create
designations of schools and districts, where those designations then
permit state officials to step in and take immediate actions to change
the governance, management and whatever else they see fit to change in
these schools (and whether they have such legal authority or not).

Priority
schools are the bottom of the heap, or bottom 5% and are subject to the
most aggressive, and most immediate unilateral interventions (seemingly
with complete disregard for existing state statutory or constitutional
rights of attending children, their parents or local taxpayers, as well
as explicit disregard for existing federal law).

Implicit
in these classifications - and the proposed response interventions - is
the assumption that priority schools are simply poorly run schools -
schools with crummy leaders and lots of bad, lazy, pathetic and uncaring
teachers... who have thus caused their school to achieve priority
status.

They clearly must go... or at least deserve one heck of a
shaking up!

Couldn't possibly be anyone else's fault. After all, the
state must have clearly already done its part to provide sufficient
financial resources, etc. etc. etc. It must be the bad teachers and
crappy principals. That's all it can be! Therefore, we must have
immediate wide-reaching latitude to step in and kick out the bums - and
heck - just close those schools and send those kids elsewhere, or
convert those schools to "limited public access, privately governed and
managed institutions" (privately manged charters) where layers of constitutional rights for employees and students may be sacrificed.

New York State's Waiver Hit ListNew York State Education Department released their hit list of schools recently.

This is the most ridiculous policy... cash rewards and options for opting out of some state regulations for schools that are doing great, which is correlated with population. More external pressure and "accountability" for schools that are not, which has to do w/ population, but no policies to actually help these kids... as long as we are going by test scores the results of programs like these will be the same: schools with highest concentrations of ELL/Special needs/and children living in poverty will be "low achieving" and schools with low poverty rates (or no poverty) and small numbers of ELLs and special needs students will be "high achieving"... Meanwhile schools with large nos of at risk kids to be restructured or closed. .....a NYC special ed teacher and member of MORE

Here comes another assault on schools that will force the most struggling schools to focus resources on tests instead of doing what is necessary. And they can expect no help from Bloomberg/Walcott or from the next mayor for that matter.

Some say John King, pro-charter, pro-privatization State Ed Comm. is clueless. I don't agree. He is executing the ed deform agenda, in addition to executing these schools

At first glance reward schools
include some of wealthiest & most selective in city incl ps 6 on
upper east side manhattan & anderson Stuy bronx science brooklyn
tech & lehman these are the schools that are supposed to get cash
awards for doing so well?

Here are the comments that the MORE special ed teacher sent in this quick analysis:

As result of the NCLB waiver, all districts in NYC were identified for focus/priority except D31/Staten Island...there is a reward too, of course going to wealthiest schools, in d15 for example ps 321 park slope.

This is the most ridiculous policy... cash rewards and options for opting out of some state regulations for schools that are doing great, which is correlated with population. More external pressure and "accountability" for schools that are not, which has to do w/ population, but no policies to actually help these kids... as long as we are going by test scores the results of programs like these will be the same: schools with highest concentrations of ELL/Special needs/and children living in poverty will be "low achieving" and schools with low poverty rates (or no poverty) and small numbers of ELLs and special needs students will be "high achieving"...
There will be an improvement plan based on 6 tenants of education effectiveness (whatever that means) and schools/districts will have to meet goals, provide data, have visits... Haven't seen what happens if goals are not met/there isn't improvement/test scores don't go up... But this newfangled thing has another group "priority" schools, which are schools "in more trouble" than yours (lowest 5% I think), those schools I think face more imminent action and I think the idea is the focus schools are targeted to prevent from becoming priority aka- stop them from becoming "the bottom 5"... Of course if u have a tiered system like this, there will always be a "bottom."

This email was sent out to a staff by Jeff Kaufman, chapter leader of one of the schools.

As our school has been statistically struggling with some City and State metrics our struggle, unfortunately, continues. Today the State has designated Aspirations as a “Priority” school. This replaces our former SINI designation and was determined by 3 main criteria; ELA, Math scores and graduation rates.

Under the Federal NCLB rules New York applied for and received a waiver in order to comply with many of the mandates. With the State’s Race to the Top Application (conditionally approved but not implemented since our union has not agreed on evaluation of teacher criteria…there has been no agreement to change our U/S rating system) the Feds and the State revamped their list and terminology. The new designation that we received, Priority school, will release additional sums to change our ELA, Math and graduation stats. It also buys up to 3 years before the state will order the school closed or phased-out.

It is important to note that the state’s designation does not directly impact any city decision to close or phase out our school. The city’s power to transform certain low performing schools was severely curtailed when our union won a lawsuit prohibiting the city from excessing all staff without closing the school.

While I realize a lot of this is complicated and this short space is clearly not enough to explain all of the nuances I think it is important to understand that as we open the school year with the same commitment we have always had…to our students. We will undoubtedly be told we are not working hard enough or effectively and that if we don’t improve our school will close.

We will do our best, not for any state metric or to please an administrator, but because we are committed to the notion that if our students are to have any chance in this world it will be because that they are prepared for college or work, and while we can’t change their economic status or their poor prior education, we can impact our students in many ways which state or city metrics will never be able to measure.

I look forward to this year knowing there will be challenges and knowing that I will be working with some of the most dedicated teachers I have ever known.

As always, feel free to call or email me about this or any other issue. If you wish more information about our priority school designation and the process go to

On Wednesday, a standing-room-only House of Delegates, representing schools & citywide educators across the city set a potential start date of Monday, September 10, 2012, for a strike of more than 26,000 teachers, clinicians and paraprofessionals.
The resolution reads:
RESOLVED that the House of Delegates shall set a strike date of September 10, 2012.

The strike is necessary to achieve a labor contract with acceptable wages, benefits and job protections; and for all other purposes for which a strike is authorized under law. The strike is also necessary to protest unfair labor practices committed by CPS against our membership.

MORE held two back to back meetings on Monday over a 4 hour period and I got to thinking, always a dangerous thing. It's been an interesting 15 years, 10 of them as a retiree. Where to begin before I forget it all? This could be a book, but I'll spare you the pain and just do as short a synopsis as I can in 4 separate posts.

Lawyers Randi and Joel work on a school. Cartoon special for ed notes, spring '03.

Part 1: Education Notes
I began ednotesonline in late August 2006 and Education Notes print edition in 1997, so this 6th anniversary is as good a time as any to do a retrospective.

Chapter leadership re-engages me- 1994
I became chapter leader in 1994 with a hostile, high stakes testing principal who took over the school in 1979. So the battle was joined from the moment I took over the chapter (we had been on opposite sides of a number of issues since she arrived). I spent the next 3 years through 1997 working to organize a democratic union at the school level. My major tool was a newsletter, "PS 147 Notes." I learned a lot based on the reactions of the staff and the active parents. And I saw my principal, who rarely was afraid of anything, showed more than some concern about what I would write. Being in the non-power position, the Notes gave me a lot of leverage and a means of gathering support. I made sure to share the paper at District Chapter Leader meetings so the entire district was getting the word about what my principal was doing. That drove her crazy.

Education Notes as a 16-page tabloid, spring 2003

When I became CL I also began to go back to the UFT Delegate Assembly after an absence of at least 10 years (I had been a delegate from 1972 around 1984.) I also attended District 14 chapter leader and school board meetings. So I was able to provide a load of information to the staff. Those that read my newsletter (I put out 49 editions in my 3rd year) were as informed on a variety of issues as they could be.

I went to all the chapter leader trainings and that is where I met Randi Weingarten who was clearly the heir and we established a cordial relationship. I learned first hand about the Randi one on one charm.

I wasn't all that active at the DA, being more focused on my own school, even during the fight to defeat the seminal 1995 contract that we turned down the first time -- New Action deserves credit along with people like Bruce Markens who was the Manhattan HS district rep - the only non-Unity DR because the chapter leaders kept electing him for a decade - he officially worked for the union and stood up strong against the contract, which just flipped the leadership off.

Becoming active at the Delegate Assembly
In my 4th year as CL (97-98) I was on sabbatical and turned the chapter over to a pair
of teachers. My sabbatical was one designed by me -- I offered the
district tech boss my services and he accepted. In the middle of the
year, 2 jobs opened up doing exactly what I had offered to do and he
offered me one of them if I would give up my sabbatical. I laughed. Before the
year ended he got another position for Sept. 1998 and offered it to me. I
accepted. So I was out of the classroom for the first time in 30 years. I spent the next 4 years in that job working as part of a team of 4 covering 27 elementary and middle schools and offering after school tech courses (like explaining what email and the world wide web were).

In my year on sabbatical I continued to attend the DA and began to think more deeply about the bigger union issues. At some point I began to migrate my chapter newsletter into "Delegate Assembly Notes" and then changed the name to Education Notes. I entered that project with the idea that the major opposition, New Action, was not very effective. Teachers for a Just Contract was out there in a fairly minimal way, so I did not formally ally myself with the opposition and naively thought I could reach out to reasonable Unity people, Randi included, to lobby for change within the UFT. And Randi and her people certainly helped lead me on for years, even offering me an opportunity to join Unity.

Not anti-Unity

Ed Notes was a monthly directed at union leaders and school-based leaders. It grew from one sheet to 14 pages. It was a big undertaking but my job at the District media center gave me some some room to roam. Many Unity people, and indeed, many of the people at the DA, especially the leaders of the union were reading it. Unity people were fairly friendly and said they agreed with lots of stuff I was saying. I tweaked but didn't attack Randi and we were communicating regularly. I was seduced by the idea that I was getting my ideas heard at the top level. I was also critical of New Action and Unity loved it. NA started spreading rumors I was being funded by Unity.

Whatever independent delegates there were began stopping by and said they were sharing Ed Notes with their staff. But I had a limited amount of copies.

Old political cronies are supportive
I should point out here that I wasn't totally alone in this endeavor. My political cronies from the 70s on the verge of retirement -- the late Paul Baizerman, Vera Pavone, Ira Goldfine, Loretta and Gene Prisco, provided advice and the political analysis I was sorely missing. They even wrote some great pieces for Ed Notes. Paul and Gene were also delegates and we worked as a team at the DA.

[Social note: Loretta and Gene's daughter got married last Saturday and we were all together again and we still see each other on a regular basis. More on this amazing group of socially and politically committed people when I get to ICE in part 2.]

When I left my school, I was no longer a delegate but continued to go to
every DA to hand out Ed Notes. Having something in writing was especially important as I could no
longer speak (from 98-2000).

I looked for a way to get back into the DA as a delegate. As a teacher assigned I could run as a
delegate from that functional chapter but that was totally controlled by Unity. But Randi must have given the word and they gave me a slot as a delegate for 2001-2002. I felt even at that point that lobbying Unity was still possible.Breaking with Randi
It took me over 3 years to see through the Randi bullshit, (I way behind many others). Merit pay and mayoral control were the key issues.

The break with Randi came in the spring of 2001 when I began to see through the bullshit and realized that only by building a strong opposition could we make changes in the union. This was just at the point Bloomberg was running for mayor.

Ed Notes turned extremely critical of Randi and Unity during the 2001-2 school year. Unity people began shunning it and hostility grew. My last year and a half at the DA before I retired in July 2002 was really contentious. I felt the rest of the opposition were not functioning in a critical manner. More independents were giving me their contact information and some even said they were making copies for their schools.

Trying to unify the opposition
There was another opposition group that ran in elections in the late 90s: Progressive Action Caucus, focused on teachers who were losing their licenses because of difficulty with the teaching exam. At some point after the 2001 elections -- maybe late spring or early fall I called a meeting to try to get New Action, TJC and PAC into the same room -- I also asked independents I had met to join us. The idea was to try to unify the opposition. But New Action was the king of the hill at the time, having beaten Unity in the high schools in most elections. The had disdain for the others it seemed. And since Ed Notes had been critical they didn't trust me either.

Influence of Schmidt
I had picked up a copy of George Schmidt's Substance at an ed tech convention to Chicago in June 2000 and continued to stay in touch with George. His model of a full-fledged tabloid with thousands of copies that could reach into the schools began to intrigue me. As I entered the spring 2002 with my office having a new boss who was a joke, thoughts of retirement along with the idea of having the time to expand Ed Notes into a tabloid with a bigger outreach into the schools began to intrigue me.

Retired, July 2002 and a visit from George Schmidt
I started planning a tabloid edition of Ed Notes with the idea of 4 pages -- think one pull-out page in the Daily News - 4 sides, but it kept growing as the summer went on and turned into a 16-pager.

In mid-July George was coming through NY with his family and I invited a bunch of people to my house to meet George and he regaled us with stories of Substance (which he began in the late 70s) and the takeover of the Chicago union by the Debbie Lynch insurgency in 2001. Debbie was no radical -- she had worked in DC for Shanker -- and in fact when I crowed about Debbie, both Randi and Leo were saying "she is one of us." But that she had beaten a Unity style machine was impressive and an indication of things to come in Chicago 8 years later. [Debbie lost in a very close election 2004, got slammed in 2007 and in 2010 was one of 5 caucuses to run and in round 2 threw her 15% of the vote to CORE which helped them gain power.]

Remember, my goal was to use Ed Notes to organize unity in the
opposition, at that point by trying to bring all the groups together. All the groups agreed to help distribute Ed Notes -- I
offered them space in the initial edition to push their platform. Thus, I had 10,000 printed for September.

Ed Notes as a full tabloid had an affect just by its looks. It was meaty, full of news and analytical, with cartoons specially commissioned and all kinds of graphics. Boy, did I learn desktop publishing. In between the 4 editions during that year, I put out a one sheet edition on alternate months, at the DA only. I was one busy guy in my first year of retirement during the 2002-3 school year. I wasn't thinking all that far ahead. Just plodding along.

Meeting Lawhead, Ahern and Fiorillo
During that year I put out four issues of 16 pages each --wait, one was even 20 pages –– even I am stunned at that output and don't see how I did it. I ran around the city dropping off bundles, often with the help of retiree Merry Tucker -- we made sure to treat ourselves to a nice lunch. People began to contact me from various schools. I met John Lawhead and Sean Ahern during that year, two people who would a big influence on me. We began to hang out. And Michael Fiorillo, who I knew from the DA, joined us at times. I would say these guys were the genesis of ICE, a year away. I began to think of introducing them to the 70s crew, (which I did at a party at my house in July 2003.)

Danger signs from New Action
Sometime in my last months at the DA- spring 2002 - there seemed to be something going on between New Action and Unity. NA leader Michael Shulman and Randi were getting their heads together. I remember a Unity/NA joint resolution that was toothless and full of holes. I was the only one at the DA to oppose it and heaped scorn on them both. Shortly after Micheal Mendel told me I was insulting to Randi in this speech and she wasn't happy --- hmm, is scorn insulting? Maybe. But I heaped scorn on Shulman too. After I spoke, one of the leaders of TJC came over and said she was glad I had done it but she wanted to -- but was still being careful about being openly critical of the major opposition.

In the spring of 2003, Paul Baizerman wrote a critical analysis of New Action for Ed Notes and New Action started refusing to hand it out. I offered James Eterno space to write a rebuttal. (Bruce Markens had to adjudicate the number of words.)

When the relationship between Randi and Shulman began to blossom into a dirty election deal in the summer of 2003 where NA wouldn't run against Randi and she would hand them the 6 high school seats they had been winning anyway by not running any Unity people -- this was for the 2004 elections -- New Action stalwarts James Eterno and Ellen Fox were very disturbed and started touching base with me and people in TJC.

At a rally in early October, 2003, I ran into Fiorillo at a UFT rally and lo and behold, there was Shulman on the podium with Randi. Fiorillo said, "you think NA is right about putting up a united front with Unity given the BloomKlein assault?"

I disagreed. Given that Randi had floated on so much of the same shit coming from the people doing the attacks, there needed to be more resistance, not less. That the New Action position of putting up a united front would free Randi from being held accountable.

But why don't we get some people together and talk about it. Which we did on the Friday before Halloween, 2003, in essence the first meeting of ICE.

=============
The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

U.S. Dept. of Ed Secretary Arne Duncan mentions E4E in back to school remarks --- E4E bulletin (not satire but should be)

E4E logo

Astroturf organization E4E is crowing about Arne Duncan noticing them. Yes, as E4E tries to buy its way into schools but fails to fool many teachers into believing E4E is interested in real reform - class size is a no, no, while every single aspect of ed deform is Aplus – the powers that be like Duncan and the NYCDOE keep trying to pump life into them (E4E Buys Its Way Into Schools Using Tweed Contacts). The goal of course is to try to undermine the teacher unions.

E4E certainly doesn't want to even mention the impact on poverty and what activist teachers like those in MORE are doing to bring back the conversation about what this country needs to do about it, something E4E and allies want to bury.

Susan Ohanian has a blurb that counter the E4E/deformer line. Here is an effort to push a deeper conversation about poverty into the mainstream political debate.

I'm always glad to help my friends at E4E out. They are so excited to report the news as they blared in the headline of their weekly report:

U.S. Dept. of Ed Secretary Arne Duncan mentions E4E in back to school remarks

August 29, 2012 Last week, Arne Duncan stopped by Perry Hall High School (Baltimore, MD) to talk with more than 800 Baltimore County teachers. In his message, Arne mentioned Educators 4 Excellence as an example of how, "As a country, we’re beginning to change those dynamics and teachers are leading the change–through their unions or with grassroots groups like Teach Plus and Educators 4 Excellence."
Watch the clip below (start at 17:31):

Arne certainly knows how to distort things. In Baltimore, over 50% of the teachers were rated unsatisfactory after a new evaluation system (supported by E4E and Duncan - and I bet the union too) was put into place. Do you think E4E will ever get that most teachers do not consider Duncan a friend of teachers?

Duncan and Co. have already wrecked public education in several cities. Detroit's ravaged economy and declining population were as a pretext for an aggressive bipartisan assault that's already led to the closure of 100 schools. Today, Detroit has two school systems--the Detroit Public Schools and a state-run Education Achievement Authority--that compete to attract students, with 35 percent of Detroit kids attending charter schools. In Philadelphia, school authorities, backed by Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter, are seeking to dismantle the entire school system, handing operations over to an array of nonprofit organizations, charter school management groups and academic institutions. ---- Socialist Worker

=========
The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers in
New York City, captured the mood when he said [12], "You come after one
of us, you deal with all of us." But the union's policies of collaboration, highlighted earlier in convention proceedings, undermined that call to action. -- Lee Sustar, Socialist Worker

All union politics is not just local. Many of us have been in regular touch with the Chicago crew at CORE (the 4 year old caucus that runs the CTU now). Sarah Chambers (who we got to hang out with last summer in Chicago) and is on the CORE steering committee was in town for a night 2 weeks ago and some MORE people got together with her for some lunch and a drink. Sarah sent along the photo (jeez I'm fat) with this message:

Things are heating up here. The executive board and bargaining team are meeting tomorrow to set a strike date, which we will bring to the house of delegates.

Here is a bunch of news from various sources. It looks like there will be a strike in 10 days. Watch carefully what Randi and the AFT does -- we're hoping for some inside reports if there is any backstabbing.

And let me point out again and again: the best way to defend the school workers in NYC is to build a viable alternative to Unity Caucus. Join MORE.

Chicago Teachers Union to file 10-day strike notice

The Chicago Teachers Union plans to file a 10-day strike notice later today, meaning a teacher walkout could begin after the majority of the city’s students finish their first week of school, sources said. -- Read more

Lee Sustar who writes for The Socialist Worker gives us some great background. I sat with Lee in the press section at the 2010 and 12 AFT conventions and he has deep insight, especially his analysis of the AFT convention and just how far Randi will go to support the CTU which is acting so counter to what she has been preaching. (See my blog from yesterday - Will Randi and AFT Join Rahm Emanuel in End Run Around Chicago Teachers Union?

Chicago teachers draw a line

LeeSustar looks at the battle shaping up in the Chicago Public Schools--and the national implications for teachers and the struggle for public education.

That question looms large--not just for the city's teachers, students and their parents, but for the entire labor movement. Because while both private- and public-sector unions are taking a pounding across the U.S. with layoffs, pay cuts and pension rollbacks, the CTU is gearing up for a showdown with America's most politically connected mayor, Rahm Emanuel--and it will come to a head in September.

At a time when most union officials are shamefacedly selling concessions as "the best we can do," Chicago teachers are defiant. Just ask anyone who encountered the giant inflatable rat that accompanied the spirited CTU picket outside the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) offices August 22 a few hours before a school board meeting.
.....

That question looms large--not just for the city's teachers, students and their parents, but for the entire labor movement. Because while both private- and public-sector unions are taking a pounding across the U.S. with layoffs, pay cuts and pension rollbacks, the CTU is gearing up for a showdown with America's most politically connected mayor, Rahm Emanuel--and it will come to a head in September.

At a time when most union officials are shamefacedly selling concessions as "the best we can do," Chicago teachers are defiant. Just ask anyone who encountered the giant inflatable rat that accompanied the spirited CTU picket outside the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) offices August 22 a few hours before a school board meeting.
........
In recent weeks, the CTU has been holding public meetings in neighborhoods around the city to receptive audiences. Community alliances forged by CORE to fight an earlier round of school closings years ago laid the basis for a strong CTU alliance with key community organizations in African American and Latino communities. A CTU float at this year's Gay Pride march got big cheers. The union has also backed the effort by Communities Organized for Democracy in Education [10] to replace Emanuel's handpicked school board with an elected one.
........
WHILE THE CTU is resolved to do what it takes to win--including a strike--questions remain over the role of its parent union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

The AFT convention in Detroit held in July gave a powerful statement of solidarity for its members in Chicago. Delegates also gave backing to AFT teachers in Douglas County, Ariz., where school authorities have imposed a contract on the union, as well as Detroit, where an emergency financial manager unilaterally cut pay by 10 percent on top of previous rounds of concessions and job losses.

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, captured the mood when he said [12], "You come after one of us, you deal with all of us."

But the union's policies of collaboration, highlighted earlier in convention proceedings, undermined that call to action.

For example, the AFT affiliate in Cleveland worked with anti-union Republican Gov. John Kasich to craft a contract eliminating seniority protection in layoffs [13] while backing legislation that allows charter schools to compete with traditional schools for taxpayer dollars. Instead of pointing to the agreement as a disastrous setback, AFT President Randi Weingarten portrayed it as a gain in her opening speech. [14]

In fact, Weingarten, who two years ago proposed a strategic retreat for the union by announcing a partnership with school reformers like Bill Gates, now finds herself presiding over a rout of the union in some of its historic bastions, such as Philadelphia [15], where the mayor and school officials are in the process of turning over the entire school system to academic institutions and charter school management organizations.

As a result, the convention proceedings veered between sober recognition of the scale of the assault and the high-production videos and feel-good presentations typical of U.S. unions at their stage-managed meetings--crowding out any lengthy discussion of the major issues facing teachers.

We just became acquainted of your present struggle for public education against privatization and for your rights. We would like you to know that our federation, the FNEC FP FO, completely support your claims and the ones you underline in particular: -for employment safety, -Against extension of working days and school periods, -Against teacher’s evaluation based on students’ and pupils’ results. We have moreover read with great interest in a 31th july statement of the International Education Committee that this was more and more rejected all over the United States. -For the protection of the trade unions , of the trade union rights ,of the rights to strike and for the rights to negociate.

We are facing in France the same issues : almost 13 000 teaching posts are to be suppressed for school beginning in a few days and this we can’t accept . We just succeeded together -with almost all trade unions- to have the teachers’ evaluation suppressed , which would have put an end to our collective guarantees in terms of careers and salary progressions, in order to introduce indivilualization and promotion on merit. The new minister wants to start discussions on this matter, he also started a concertation to review our status and all our guarantees in this range. It is out of question for us to change anything and that is why we are being careful.

Together with our confederation cgt-FO, we insist on keeping our independence against any governments, this guarantees the best defense for our claims. The European Union insists on having ratified a treaty that has already caused wreaks in Greece and Spain: wages lowered, massive unemployment, and drastic cuts in education and health budgets. Our government wants to propose the ratification of this treaty to the deputes and senators at the beginning of October. With our confederation, our federation has statued against this ratification and denounces the austerity plans and the structural adjustment plans imposed by the IMF, the EU and the ECB to the governments. The workers in the education sector and in all sectors do not have to “share the efforts” in order to reduce a debt that is not theirs; on the other hand, the trade unions do not have to cope with the austerity plans.

Therefore we wish you full success with your struggle and the strike you’re preparing with 98% of the teachers in Chicago; Education is an imprescriptible right , stop the suppression of the teachings posts , stop the dismissals, stop schools’ closing, and privatization, respect of the statuses and of the collective conventions… Respect of all social achievements Respect of the trade unions rights, of trade unions, respect of the right to strike and of all rights defined by the conventions and decisions of the ILO.

The Boston Teachers Union notified the School Department today that it intends to block a unilateral implementation of a new teacher-evaluation system for this school year, the latest flashpoint in the increasingly contentious negotiations over a new contract.

In a letter to the School Department, the union’s attorney Matthew E. Dwyer said school officials lacked the legal authority to impose the new system on Sept. 4 without reaching an agreement with the union.

“We are dismayed that BPS is abandoning the statutory process in favor of unilateral action,” Dwyer wrote.

This is the 2nd case I heard of a top salary teacher being sent back to a school with a principal who will put a target on their backs before they walk in the door. If you have info leave comments. I also sent it to the MORE chapter leader and delegate support group which has loads of experienced chapter leaders.

(If you are a CL or Delegate (or even not) or know some people have them send an email to more@morecaucusnyc.org and ask to be added to the CL listserve.)

An ATR just received a letter from the DOE stating that they were
"assigning" her back to her original school. She doesn't know if this
happened to other ATRs.

They (the DOE) are putting her in an ICT kindergarten class because she has
a special ed license. Last year she worked at another school in a self contained
special ed class, but the assignment was not permanent. The principal at this school
does not want her there because she doesn't know her and she is at top salary
(she could retire if she wished). She is afraid that this principal, who is not
a nice person, is ready with a "U" rating before she even begins. This
principal also wanted to know why she did not accept a permanent assignment at
another former school a year ago She has not formally accepted or turned
down the position, but is concerned that she's damned if she does and damned if
she doesn't. She has been given no other choice.The UFT has been no help to her
in the past and she is reluctant to contact them again so I thought I would run
this by you. . Doesn't an ATR have the prerogative of accepting a placement
or not, just as a principal can let an ATR go? I don't know what the current
"rules" are for assignments. If you have any ideas of how she should proceed or to whom she can go, it
would be most appreciated.

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Emanuel to use "senior people" [from AFT?] to negotiate ---- or is this a red herring attempt coming from Emanuel camp to sow divisions between local and national?

Early next week, sources said the mayor plans to step it up a notch by having a "second level of negotiations with more senior people" away from the same cast of characters currently at the bargaining table.The second tier of negotiations is likely to include Beth Swanson, Emanuel's point person on education, and "someone from Washington, D.C., who is a more moderate, outside senior level" expert capable of "driving this home," sources said."People who've been in those meetings for weeks have war wounds. It's hard to break through that," the Emanuel confidant said. ---Chicago Sun Times

Given some history of how the UFT and AFT have acted in the past this is certainly believable. And so it begins. What is a second tier of negotiations that doesn't include "People who've been in those meetings for weeks have war wounds"?

Yeah, war wounds. People who have been chopped to bit and won't take it anymore. And who could this be? "someone from Washington, D.C., who is a more moderate, outside senior
level" expert capable of "driving this home."

People who are more moderate. Randi? Leo? They can explain to the CTU that they can't win and should compromise. Watch this one very closely.

Mayor Emanuel to 'ratchet up' his role in preventing teachers strike
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com August 24, 2012 1:02AM

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, pictured Thursday at an unrelated event, is preparing to 'ratchet up' teacher negotiations in a bid to get schools to start on time. | Brian Jackson~Sun Times

Schools to start on time; union won't file strike notice today

Updated: August 24, 2012 8:25AM

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is preparing to "ratchet up" negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union to seal a deal needed to guarantee an on-time Sept. 4 opening of Chicago Public Schools and preserve his signature plan for a longer school day and year, City Hall sources said Thursday.

"He owns this anyway, and he's gonna need to ratchet it up to close it," said a mayoral confidant, who asked to remain anonymous.

Emanuel is already visiting several schools a day to drive home the point that 140,000 kids have already started school and cannot be left in the lurch by a teachers strike.

Early next week, sources said the mayor plans to step it up a notch by having a "second level of negotiations with more senior people" away from the same cast of characters currently at the bargaining table.

The second tier of negotiations is likely to include Beth Swanson, Emanuel's point person on education, and "someone from Washington, D.C., who is a more moderate, outside senior level" expert capable of "driving this home," sources said.

"People who've been in those meetings for weeks have war wounds. It's hard to break through that," the Emanuel confidant said.

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Monday, August 27, 2012

If I am to be held accountable as a teacher based on a test, I want that test in the public domain. --- a nyc teacher

Parents and children protest at PearsoPinsin NYC, June 2012

What an idea that has been floating around. To request the materials. And if they don't give them, then go to court. How can they rate a teacher based on materials that may be flawed? Every parent we can get involved and every teacher should be asking for copies of the tests.

Here are some emails from parents and teachers:

No agency of the government has the right to compel a minor child to perform *any* task the results of which a parent is not allowed to witness. Quite aside from the fact that denying access to a test after it's taken means it can have no educational value for the child, our fundamental right as parents to oversee all aspects of our children's upbringing is violated by keeping the tests secret. All parents whose children did take the standardized tests should demand to see them.

Note that the state-mandated academic tests are quite different from voluntarily taken psychological tests, for example, whose exact contents are not revealed to patients in order to preserve the integrity of research. Such tests are never forced on children against the wishes of parents.

They are also completely different from tests like the SAT, taken voluntarily by children who are almost of age and already assuming
responsibilities like driving (and therefore able to judge for themselves whether the benefits of taking the test outweigh the disadvantage to them of not being able to review the results in detail), and different from professional licensing exams, entered into voluntarily by full-fledged adults. In all these cases there is no coercion.

---------------

Parents need to see that the material being used to judge and punish children, teachers, and schools is complete and utter trash. Poorly written, dull, confusing, inane "passages" on the ELA test. Deliberately confusing, awkwardly worded, "trick"y math problems. I imagine a flood of requests would gum up the works, but I'm curious to see how high up the burden goes. Will it inconvenience the school administration or the state ed department?

----------------

What parent is not interested in seeing how their child "performed" on this overly determinative test? Im interested both for him and on behalf of his incredible fourth grade ELA teacher. My son certainly decreased her value added score this year and he had the best ELA year ever, creating work (for the first time) that sugnificantly moved him in the direction that I value: a rigorous, critical and impassioned thinker and writer.

I just got this from one of the ATRs on the GEMATR listserve (which you can join by sending an email to gemnyc@gmail.com.

I just want to put it out there especially for the ATRs- a very
reliable higher up told my fellow ATR that guidance counselors will be moving
around to different schools each week starting the new school year. If
this is true, they will not be held to different standards as the teachers
although nothing has been said about ATR secretaries and ATR paras. My
fellow ATR met two ATR paras and they did not move around.

Secondly, this ATR was told by the HR people at the network that they do
not care about teachers teaching out of license- Licensure is not important-
seems only salary is. So, I was thinking a good
thing to get out to the public is that parents check the licenses of their
children’s teachers. If there are problems, we should file a complaint at
someone in DOE- at least a paper trail would be in place.

Thirdly, the reliable higher up mentioned that the network
organization will go back to boroughs in January, Thus, this shuffling of
network leaders into principal positions. Not sure what this
reorganization would look like. Would all these network leaders be part of the
ATR pool?

EXCESS'D - A Teacher Without a Room

And the 4 part saga (so far) of Mr. Letgo. Here is the link to

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

A NYC Principal says: [E4E] is a very dangerous, corporate
sponsored bunch of anti union elitists. Most of them are not committed
to staying in a classroom and actually teaching kids which is what
this business is really all about.

How much help is Tweed giving E4E in spreading their message?

They have organized "in school" networking events such as bringing
in breakfast or lunch for an entire school staff and they facilitate
focus groups on pertinent topics. ---- former network official

The email below was sent out by a retired high level official with a network to a list of principals in the network -- see list of schools below so you can be aware if they show up. Warn your principal of who these people are and what their intentions are. Or just print out the wonderful response of this principal.

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!-------
I love you. This group, however, is a very dangerous, corporate
sponsored bunch of anti union elitists. Most of them are not committed
to staying in a classroom and actually teaching kids which is what
this business is really all about.I do not wish to
receive any more emails about this. I also STRONGLY encourage everyone
I work with and / or represent to do their own research into this
organization. I am sure these two ladies are lovely and first class
educators but however well intentioned they are they are working for a group that will undermine and destroy everything unions have worked to obtain for our communities...Count me out on this one IN CAPITAL LETTERS!!!!With much love,

Principal x

I received the email from multiple sources who object to the E4E message. One said that the person who sent it is a sweetheart and is just being duped by E4E.

Note how E4E gains entry to schools by bringing in food for the entire staff and even being allowed to run events in the school. Imagine if NYCORE or MORE or GEM tried to gain entry to talk about focus issues.

I'm sure all these groups would join with the UFT in getting all our people in the schools to urge their colleagues to reject the E4E message.

The UFT seems to be OK with this but just watch during the election when MORE tries to get into schools to campaign.

Here is the original email from the retired network leader.

In my daily travels I often meet people who I think are really committed to public education and developing school communities. Recently I met with Lauren Goldberg and Courtney Morgan from Educators 4 Excellence <http://www.educators4excellence.org/> (E4E).(I do not work for this organization. After meeting them I did become a member of the group) Their organization works to ensure that the voices of educators are included in the decisions that affect our profession and our students. E4E hosts weekly events for individual schools and large monthly events for educators from across the city. Lauren and Courtney collaborate with Principals in many ways. They have organized "in school" networking events such as bringing in breakfast or lunch for an entire school staff and they facilitate focus groups on pertinent topics. They also host larger events, like speakers, panel discussions, and movie screenings. Principals often accompany their staff to these events and then continue the conversation back at their schools. There is no charge for participation. Lauren and Courtney would love to meet to discuss all the opportunities. They can be reached at LGoldberg@educators4excellence.org or CMorgan@educators4excellence.org and at (212) 279-8510 ex. 18. They look forward to hearing from you!

Fondly,

---------

---------------

E4E: New York Advance Screening of "Won't Back Down"!

Location:

TBD

When:Thursday, Sep 13 06:00PM

Duration:
3 Hours

Description:
Join us for an advance screening of the new movie, "Won't Back Down". There will be a panel discussion following the screening.

You'd have to torture me to get me to admit exactly how much time I spend observing and playing with cats. So, what happens when your kitten is now 10 months old and a close friend and neighbor from a few blocks away was feeding a cat family of 3 -- mom, a male and a female, now known as Penny the Runt. Yes, we took it so now we have two.

Now of course, Bernie, a solid black cat who we found as a 5 week old in a bush on a divider on E. 17th St. just off Foster Ave. a few nights before Halloween, is now big and king of the hill, even though only 10 months old. I don't think Bernie even remembered what another cat looked like while Penny who was estimated at 3 months old but was a tiny, rickety size of a 2 month old because she had to fifht her double size brother for food, is a feral cat.

Bringing 2 strange cats together requires the highest level of diplomacy worthy of middle east negotiations. Over the past 3 weeks there has been some growling and spitting from Bernie, none of which fazed Penny, which totally confuses Bernie.

Here was a milestone I captured on Friday. Really, I could do this all day (and I often do).

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union hold an informational picket outside Willa Cather Elementary School, calling attention to ongoing contract talks with the Board of Education on Monday, Aug. 20, 2012 in Chicago. The union says it is still trying to reach an agreement on wages, health benefits, and job security. (AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong)

When the House of Delegates of the Chicago Teachers Union met yesterday at Lane Tech, they voted to file a ten-day strike notice. CTU President Karen Lewis told the reporters in the parking lot next to Lane that the leadership was given authority to choose the date of a strike if one becomes necessary.
I think the vote sends three messages:

It says that the interim agreement, signed several weeks ago on the longer school day, is not working as promised.

Frankly, when I read the interim agreement I took note that it did not specifically say that the teachers that were to be rehired were to be music, art or PE teachers. It seemed to me then that the agreement required and would be a sign of whether there was honest intent on the part of the board and the Mayor.
That question has been answered in the negative.
If the longer day was to be a better day, than CPS has had ample time to demonstrate that with the opening of E-track schools.
Lewis made clear that the board has failed.

Lewis gave a litany of grievances at this morning’s press conference including that the interim agreement on a longer school day has not meant a “better day” but instead was rolled out “haphazardly and ridiculously.” For example, part of the deal is that CPS would give jobs to 477 recently laid off teachers. But the union says they are in the dark about this hiring process.

CPS is also allegedly ignoring matters dear to CTU like a reduction in class size and a desire for more social workers. “We have in this city 400,000 children and 370 social workers,” Lewis says. “No one in the city should think this is tolerable.”

When the Democrats hold their national convention, this is the film that should be shown:

During the Democratic Convention, I'd like to be invited to a viewing of the documentary, The Inconvenient Truth About Waiting for Superman. I'd like to see a similar panel of Democrats speaking afterward against privatization of our public schools and on behalf of teachers and students.

You and your guests are cordially invited to a pre-screening of Won't Back
Down at the Democratic National Convention sponsored by Democrats for
Education Reform, Parent Revolution and StudentsFirst. The film will be
followed by a panel discussion with Michelle Rhee, Ben Austin, Joe Williams, Mayor Kevin Johnson and others.

FDR was the worst president in history. -- A former leftist, now a right wing ideologue supporting the efforts to bring down every aspect of the New Deal.

In case you think putting out this crap is all I do, I actually have a social life. Sort of. Let's see now, what did I do recently? Oh yeah, we went with another couple on a day trip to FDR's home in Hyde Park, about a 2 and a half hour drive. I was glad to put my 2 month old Honda CRV with its cool nav system on the open road.

I wore my FDR button at the Chicago solidarity event (Why Support Chicago Teachers at MORE event Thursday?) and someone told me "FDR was not your friend." Well, we could certainly use FDR right now -- remember when he laughed in the faces of the Republican critics who were so similar to the right wing clowns we have today. And the Dems are not much better.

When Obama was elected I wrote in this article (Election Whoopee)
right around election time:

Will Obama turn out to be a great president or a failure? An FDR or a Herbert Hoover, who had an even lower approval rating than W? It could go either way. When you think of great presidents, they seem to emerge only in times of crisis. Think there are just a few lurking? FDR ran for president with a very different agenda than he ended up enacting due to desperate times. He showed the kind of flexibility that was needed. Policies that had a major impact for generations.

Oy! Who would've thunk it? Well, I did write in that article:

The only thing we have to fear is fear of Obama's dependence on the same old, same old Clinton people, who come out of places like Goldman Saks when we need some truly radical thinking. Bill Ayres, where are you when we need you?

Double Oy!! Not the only think I guess. One thing I didn't expect: the total Obama assault on public education.

Well, after spending a day last Tuesday immersed in FDR stuff and comparing him to the political dreck we have out there today, I'm sorry, but I'll take FDR right now.

This is the last known photo of FDR standing on his own at a boyscout camp in New Jersey which is where he probably contracted polio which paralyzed him a week later. The year was 1921.

A very nice garden holds the gravesite.

Gotta run to the gym and get ready for a 5:30 wedding today but will be back later with cute cat/kitten pics. Did I tell you how much time I spend just watching and playing with cats?

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

UFT Election Vote Comparison: 2004-10

A Personal Historical Perspective

Why Karen Lewis Reads Ed Notes

"A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What media call "philanthropy" for the public schools are actually seed monies to establish a private "market" in publicly-financed education - an enterprise worth trillions if successfully penetrated by corporate America. Cory Booker, one of the "New Black Leaders" financed by the filthy rich, is key to creating a "nationwide corporate-managed schools network paid for by public funds but run by private managers.

"Ed Reformers" want to cash in on public education and to control its content and outcome, not improve it. Provide great education? Baby boomers had as close as this country has ever gotten to it when we were growing up. The Ed Reform Movement has no interest in seeing such a well-educated, democratically astute population ever again.

History of the UFT Pre-Weingarten Years

This award-winning series of articles by Jack Schierenbeck originally appeared in the New York Teacher in 1996 and 1997.

Naturally, from a certain point of view. But, despite certain biases, Schierenbeck, a great guy, was one of the best NY Teacher reporters so this is worth reading. Jack suffered a debilitating stroke many years ago (I used to get secret donations to ed notes from him through a 3rd source.)

“The schism in the union over radical politics [is] a major reason for stalling the growth of a teacher union for decades.” Revolutionary politics and ideology take center stage, as the original Teachers Union becomes a battlefield, pitting leftist against leftist and splitting the union.

Clarence Taylor's "Reds at the Blackboard" focused on the old Teachers Union which disbanded in 1964 after suffering from anti-left attacks.

Effective Union Organizing

A video series put together by Jason Mann from the British Columbia Federation of Teachers about social media and how to use it for effective union organizing.

The first series was called New Media For Union Activists Roadmap and it's still available on-line at:http://www.newmediabootcamp.ca/welcome/I watched some of them and need to rewatch as they are loaded with information.

The second series started last week and it's called "Online Campaigning for Union Activists"

You Don't Have A Choice - Join the Revolt

Hedges says, There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history.

Ex-Harlem Success Teacher Comments on Eva the Diva

I am a former Harlem Success teacher. Not many people who work/worked for her like her very much. I once made the comment that she is very nice when I first was hired. Two of her closest colleague responded immediately almost in unison, "Eve is not nice!" Over time I realized that there was a lot of political games going on. Another colleague once said to me that he was tired of "being part of a political campaign." Sending out 15,000 applications for only 400 seats in a school is reprehensible. The money that paid for those mass mailings could have paid the yearly salary of another teacher not to mention the heartache of all those parents who applied but did not get a spot. She does good work trying to give disadvantaged students a quality public school education but at a great cost to staff AND the school's educational budget! school budget.

GEM's Julie Cavanagh Debates E4E member on NY1 on LIFO and Seniority

Davis Guggenheim Compared to Riefenstahl

“Waiting for Superman" is the second most intellectually dishonest piece of documentary work I have seen. It is surpassed only by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," the pro-Hitler propaganda classic, in that regard. Uses personal narratives of adorable children to create narrative suspense that overrides public policy discussion with pure emotion in unscrupulous attack on teachers and their unions, among others

Timothy TysonProfessor of African American Studies and HistoryDuke University

A Familiar Voice on Unions

"We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike"- Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933

How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

Even as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and others around the nation are arguing for experienced teachers to be laid off regardless of seniority, every single study shows teaching experience matters. In fact, the only two observable factors that have been found consistently to lead to higher student achievement are class size and teacher experience, so that it’s ironic that these same individuals are trying to undermine both.- Leonie Haimson on Parents Across America web site

Outsource our children

Weingarten/Gates Foundation announce drone-driven teacher evaluation

According to a press release issued by the Gates Foundation, the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, these three have entered a ground-breaking partnership to evaluate teachers utilizing the drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A bird-size device floats up to 400 feet above a classroom and instantly beams live video of teachers in action to agents at desks at Teacher Quality Inspection Stations established by the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

When asked if the drones were authorized to drop bombs on teachers who exhibit inadequacy, Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, replied, "Don't be ridiculous. Gates money puts other methods at our disposal."

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers said the powerful union has signed on to the drone project...

Teacher Value-Added Data Dumping by Norm Scott

The Real Reason Behind Push for Standardized Tests: It's All About the Adults

On standardized testing in our schools

A must read article about the standardized test industry.Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translated in the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary. The article goes on to show how the companies gauge the grading "results" based on the need to ensure new contracts to continue profiting off of our youth. The original article is from Monthly Review. Here it is on Schools Matter blog.

From Sharon Higgins

Parallels between America today and Germany in the 1920's and early 30's

"Resentment and obstruction are all the right wing in America have to peddle. Their policies are utterly discredited. Their ideology - even by its own standards - is a sham. They are so bereft of leaders, their de facto leader is a former drug addicted, thrice-divorced radio talk show host. That is literally the best they can muster. But they have built a national franchise inciting the downwardly mobile to blame the government, not the right, for their problems, exactly as Hitler did in the 1920s."

Chicago View of Unity/UFT on Charters

After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings — though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.

Ed Notes Greatest Hits: HSA Rally and Founding of GEM

Angel Gonzalez and I attended that rally and used the footage to promote our conference on Mar. 28, 2009, which is where the concept of a group like GEM emerged. Until then we had basically been a committee of ICE working with the NYCORE high stakes testing group. The actions of Eva and crew helped spawn GEM. Mommie Dearest!!

I have more video somewhere. I was hoping to get Leni Riefenstahl to edit it but she died. We would have called it "Triumph of the Hedge Fund Operators."

Video of Chicago's George Schmidt and CORE Shredding Arne Duncan and the Chicago Corporate Model

Great Post on Teacher Quality at the Morton School

I'm very tired of the myth that schools are bursting at the seams with apathetic, unskilled, surly, child-hating losers who can't get jobs doing anything else. I recently figured that, counting high school and college where one encounters many teachers in the course of a year, I had well over 100 teachers in my lifetime, and I can only say that one or two truly had no place being in a classroom.